


Not a Sailor

by kailthia



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Nori is a Little Shit, Ri Family Feels, Ri family - Freeform, relationship dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 15:57:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1784818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kailthia/pseuds/kailthia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sort of a companion piece to Lapin's "The Fall"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Sailor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lapin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapin/gifts), [Blue_Sparkle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Sparkle/gifts).
  * Inspired by [I Have No Diamonds To Share](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1759467) by [Lapin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapin/pseuds/Lapin). 



Nori has been gone for almost two years. He started off with some of Lori’s work friends, the ones that found old shipwrecks, dredged them up, and profited however they could from the ruined vessels – selling the contents, telling families of losses, occasionally rehabilitating the ships properly. Nori’s quick fingers and smooth tongue are a help, and he is welcome until Herta’s (unfounded) suspicions that Nori is making eyes at her husband grow too strong. Fortunately, he managed to escape with his skin mostly intact, and he didn’t lose much when he ran, having recently sent off another care package of money and goods to Ered Luin and his siblings.

            However, he was still all alone on the Anfalas, with limited resources. At least it was spring; getting anywhere habitable would have been hellish in the wintertime. As he huddled under his cloak, rain started to fall, adding insult to injury.

Perhaps it was time to go home? It had been a while since he’d been home, and perhaps Dwalin had realized that his desire to marry a marked thief was a truly idiotic idea.

OOoOoOo

            The trip to Dol Amroth, home of the swan-lords, was thankfully mostly uneventful. Nori had traveled quickly and silently, stealing a pony from the stables of a rich family to speed his way. He had only had to convince a few people that a dwarrow traveling alone was a poor target, acquiring more supplies from some of those pore unfortunates.

Nori signed on to a ship going to the elf-havens, demonstrating his skills with knots, ships, ship-fighting and metalwork. The captain was more than happy to have him after realizing that Nori was actually fairly comfortable on water. He wasn’t a strong swimmer, but a good portion of the crew weren’t, so that didn’t stand too strongly against him.

The journey went well, quick winds and smooth weather. They met no pirates, which was a blessing. Nori learned much. New knots, new nautical terms and usages, new ways of dealing with men. Nori learned the homages the children of Numénor paid to Uínen, Lady of the Sea, Ossë, Lord of Tempests, and Ulmo, Lord of Waters. Nori participated as much as he was allowed, figuring that it was only polite to be nice to water-gods on the water. The Lady was obviously listening, given the amount of fair weather they had. Nori left the ship – the _Silver Pearl_ – with a light heart and a heavy purse.  

Nori had actually made it home when he was attacked. He had spent his first afternoon back in Ered Luin watching his siblings – Dori and Adjoa, Sori and Samin at the restaurant, Mori at the tailor’s ship where she works. He doesn’t bother checking for Ori when he doesn’t find him at the restaurant or the apartment; he could be any number of places, especially if his apprenticeship has wrapped up or been cancelled.

Nori knows that his family won’t be able to see him until after their working day are done, and even if they did he still has to cash in the money notes he’s picked up and sell the jewelry he’s stolen to a fence. It should be enough to put food on the table for a few weeks, and buy some other necessaries. Dori and Mori always made sure their clothes looked as neat as they could, but they could only do so much to disguise fraying cloth.

It is a running joke that the biggest fence in Ered Luin does business just down the street from the Tintown borough’s guard headquarters, all under the guise of a seller of secondhand items. Nori sneaks into the fence’s workshop carefully, knowing that his thief’s mark will counter his long absence in making him an object of suspicion if he is seen by a guard.   

Nori is leaving with a fuller purse and an emptier pack when he is surrounded and pulled into an alley. He manages to pull his knives, but they are torn from his hands, and he is being beaten so quickly that he cannot reach for any more, fists and heavy boots connecting with soft flesh. Nori wonders who would do this to a just-returned thief until he sees the crest on one of the boots that is connecting painfully with his back; Kálvur and his people have had a bone to pick with Nori since that heist with the blue diamonds.

When they are done with Nori, his money and valuables are gone, and it is well past nightfall. Nori aches all over from hits that will bruise, he thinks that at least two of his ribs are broken, and lines of fire from knife wounds cross his arms and legs and face. Nori knows there is nothing for it but to go home and seek medical attention, so he slowly heaves himself up. He has to lean against the wall once he’s up, breathing shallowly to avoid causing any more pain to his ribs, hoping that he hasn’t just punctured a lung.

Nori stumbles out of the alley. He will have to go on foot – he knows that he is in no condition to even consider his usual methods, so he covers his face and hopes. His mental map of the city is good enough that he can step out with as much confidence as his wounds allow.

He is at the end of the street when a well-known, well-loved voice calls out his name questioningly. Nori blanches under his hood, but keeps going. Of course Dwalin is just getting off a shift. Nori ignores him, hoping that Dwalin will think himself mistaken and go home.

No such luck. Dwalin follows him, catching up quickly. He places a heavy hand on Nori’s shoulder, right on one of the larger knife wounds. Right before he faints into Dwalin’s surprised arms, Nori jokes to himself that this sounds like something right out of Ori’s tales. Would that make him the blushing maiden?

0O0O0O0O0

Dwalin looked down at his One with fear in his heart. Óin had treated him to the best of his abilities, but had been quite clear that, even with all of his dwarrow resilience, Nori could well die of his injuries; with several broken bones in his left arm, some internal bleeding, and an extraordinary number of bruises and cuts, Nori was in considerable danger. Óin had left only a half-hour ago with his apprentice, leaving Dwalin to watch the injured thief in his bed and hope. Óin had also left a great number of advice and medicine, instructing Dwalin to send for him if Nori took a turn for a worse.  

Dwalin pushed the hair out of Nori’s eyes as he stared into the face of his soulmate.

Nori had just gone and left after Dwalin’s aborted attempt to go and visit him. Dwalin hadn’t had an explanation for his disappearance for a long time, but eventually he had gotten an answer, half-assed as it was, from Ori. The lad had become Balin’s journeyman-assistant in his scribe work after graduating from his apprenticeship a few months ago, and so Dwalin had been able to worm an answer from the little ginger. Apparently Nori was worried that his status as a marked thief would have a negative impact on Dwalin.

While it was true that there would be a certain amount of talk, it was generally accepted that, since soulmates were a gift from the Maker, it wouldn’t do to make a big deal of something out of a dwarrow’s control. Dwalin’s own mother had been a fishmonger in Erebor’s market before marrying his father, and Thorin’s paternal grandmother had been a tavern maid at an extremely disreputable brothel before she had met Thrór (which, of course, brings up the issue of how it came to be that the King _met_ her there). Most of the nobility who cared about such things generally tried to keep it quiet.

All Dwalin wanted was to spend as much of his life as remained with him with Nori. Nori was … a piece of his heart that he hadn’t known was missing until he met him properly. Not that he hadn’t been happy before, by himself, but simply by being there, Nori opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

Dwalin was distracted from his musing by the door opening; it was Ori, come from Balin’s office. Dwalin had asked Óin to have the lad sent over. When he saw his brother, Ori’s eyes went wide, and he ran to the bedside, hovering over Nori anxiously. When he reached out to touch, Dwalin grabbed Ori’s hand and whispered, “Stop.”

Ori’s eyes burned into Dwalin’s. “Why?” he whispered back. Dwalin was glad that Ori had the sense to whisper.

“Nori is in very bad shape; he needs _rest_ ,” Dwalin replied quietly. “He’s drugged now, and needs to sleep and heal. You’re only here because you and your siblings need to know that he’s back. Go home, tell them. Your siblings can come by tomorrow, if they can be quiet.”

Ori looked at Dwalin intently, then down at Nori. “Alright,” the word dragged out of the thin face after long minutes. “Take good care of him.”

Dwalin nodded. “I will.”

oOoOoOoOoOo

Nori is kept drugged for a week, at which point his bones have begun knitting back together and his wounds have stopped bleeding. His siblings visit regularly, but it is Dwalin who stays with him most often. He had quit his post as a guard; it is a little earlier than expected, but not unduly so; he would have done it in a few weeks in any case to begin helping Thorin prepare for his mad Quest. While Thorin hasn’t met his own soulmate, he understands the call of the writing on Dwalin’s wrist and gets Balin and Dís to help him with the necessary preparations at this stage of the planning.

Dwalin could have wept when Nori opened his eyes and they focused on him, though they were still a bit hazy with pain. Nori’s half-awake moue was almost kittenish, but it turned into a black scowl when he saw Dwalin. He tried to get up, only to be pushed back down by Dwalin’s hands. The ease with which he did so should have told Nori that is was a bad idea to attempt it again, but he did so regardless. “Lemme up,” he mumbled when his second attempt was unsuccessful, not meeting Dwalin’s eyes.

Dwalin looked at Nori evenly. “No. You almost _died_ , Nori. I know that you don’t think that you’re good enough for me, but I’m not going to go and let you go and kill yourself because of misplaced pride.”

Nori lay back against his pillows, still not looking at Dwalin. “I’m _not_ good enough for you, you idiot. I’m a common-born thief with no trade.”

Dwalin laced his fingers those on the hand that lay on top of Nori’s blankets. “Like I care about that?”

Nori rolled his eyes. “You … you can do better than me,” he wheezed, ribs obviously paining him.

Dwalin grabbed Nori’s hand in both of his own. “I could never. You take care of your family, _whatever_ it takes. You’re resourceful, you’re smart. And I love you.”

Nori sighed, finally meeting Dwalin’s eyes. “You’re an idiot. An idealistic idiot. Don’t know why I put up with you.”

Dwalin smiled. “The sex is good?”

“Fuck you.”

“Not until you’re feeling better. Óin would have my hide if you hot even more hurt by unnecessary athletics.”

“…Alright.”

            Dwalin and Nori had sat in contented silence until Ori had come with lunch for himself and Dwalin. The tray had dropped to the ground, crockery cracking, as Ori threw himself at his brother, squealing happily. He squeezed Nori tightly until the elder reminded him of his injured ribs. As Ori drew back, Nori noticed the new ribbons in Ori’s hair. He tugged on the braid, eyebrows raised. Ori blushed.

“I … found Fíli while you were away,” he stammered.

“Quick going, to be betrothed after a year and a half,” said Nori blandly.

Dwalin snorted as Ori’s blush deepened, until the larger dwarf took pity on the smaller. “Ori was getting teased a bit, so Dís and Dori decided to make it official, with the understanding that it would be a long betrothal.”

Ori nodded enthusiastically. “At least they’re going to let me come with you all on the Quest. It would be simply horrid to be left behind.”

Nori’s eyes focused. “Quest?”

Dwalin grimaced. This was going to be awkward.

OOoOoOoOo

Several hours, explanations, and meetings with various family members later, Dwalin supported Nori back to his room, placing the smaller dwarrow in his bed. Dwalin looked at Nori.

“Do you want me to sleep on the floor? I don’t mind.”

Nori sighed. “Come here. I get cold at night.”

oOoOoOoOoOo

            Nori’s healing was slow. His wounds stayed clean, thanks to Oín’s meticulous care and Dwalin’s hawkeyed attentions. He remained in Dwalin’s rooms, and the tattooed dwarf happily spent his nights wrapped around his thief. Dwalin knew better than to mention marriage to Nori again so soon, but hoped that when the Mountain was reclaimed (for Nori had insisted on joining the quest) he might be able to wed his thief.

It would be a battle, but a worthwhile one.

**Author's Note:**

> So ... yeah.


End file.
